


And Life Goes On

by Mah_cat_typed_this



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Childhood Trauma, Comfort, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Sibling Bonding, Survivor Guilt, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28760313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mah_cat_typed_this/pseuds/Mah_cat_typed_this
Summary: Croissant's life was better than it had ever been, she had been accepted into the TBD, nothing could top the joy she felt at that moment.Then life was good, she had settled into her new routine and couldn't wait to see what new adventures the next day would bring.Then, life was boring, uneventful, empty. Even if she wouldn't be caught dead saying it, it was the truth.In search of something to fill the ever growing void in her heart, Croissant jumps into the first opportunity to do something new and right an injustice. Then she saw something into Brave's past that the young cookie would rather keep hidden, and she learned life was is much more than what she thought.In short: Life can be horrifying and unfair, but it's all a little bit better when you're there for each other.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23





	And Life Goes On

**Author's Note:**

> Did I fall so deep into the cookie fandom to make fanfiction of it instead of homework? Yes is did, apparently.
> 
> This is also known as: the time Croissant learned that's four orphans and their zombie bodyguard trying to survive and decides she's Brave's new big sister now.

Life was better than it had ever been.

She had been called to offer her services to the TBD. The agency that had not called for a new talent for so long, many believed they might never had. The cookies who had the honor of being part of it were only the best of the best, and Croissant cookie couldn’t be any happier to be one of them.

Slowly, she made her name known. Croissant, one of the best engineers TBD had to offer, the one cookie who built their own custom timecraft out of scraps, the one who would understand and solve problems no matter how complex they were. Not a single time rift escaped her attentive eyes, and she was surrounded by the people who she once admired, now they were the ones who admired her seemingly impeccable work. There simply wasn’t anything that that Croissant couldn’t fix with enough time and effort and maybe a couple of all nighters, there was no problem without a solution for the young engineer that one day entered the agency and started changing everything for the best.

Life was good.

Wherever she went, she was greeted by the smiles of her peers and satisfied nods from her superiors. The mechanic could say her life had been complete by then, she had gained everything she could ever want and the doors of opportunity were slowly opening to positions even beyond anything she could have ever imagined. No problem posed a challenge to her, and her days had settled into a calm and uneventful routine. A sandwich in the morning, go to work and fix any small problems that might appear, grab a cappuccino or latte, go home to rest for the night.

Then, after all of that, life was uneventful.

Just because the word “ _boring_ ” never felt like it could properly fit. Croissant silently chastised herself for even thinking of her life as boring, it was a harsh word, she wasn’t so dissatisfied with it to the point of calling it something so harsh. The TBD had done so much for her, she had no right to disregard it. Or maybe it wasn’t disregarding at all and she was placing the agency in a godly pedestal, but she constantly felt like she couldn’t allow herself the luxury of being unhappy with her life.

Then, like the prodigy she was, it didn’t take too long for her to have an idea. She began crafting new ways to build timecrafts, more efficient, sturdy and elegant models that used her own as a base. It filled the emptying hole in her chest and Croissant realized that she didn’t dislike her position, she simply craved a challenge. It made sense, she had grown and her skills were far beyond what she had when she first joined, with growth comes the necessity of new challenges.

Croissant helped people all day until the many all nighters she had previously pulled off came clawing back at her exhausted mind, and she was forced to take a break. Developing non expensive and yet efficient models that could stun the director truly was a challenge of her level of expertise, the monotonous routine gave place to an exciting project that she just couldn’t wait to complete, all the dead ends she found herself in, all of the headaches and empty coffee cups were more than worth going through. Croissant missed that frustration, she missed feeling lost in what to do, only to take a nice and relaxing bath, or maybe talk to hero cookie, and have a sudden moment of realization and she knew just what to do to solve the seemingly impossible problem.

Even that turned out to simply be a temporary solution to things, as when she was finally done with her project and was basically treated as a deity for a while, her life fell into the lurking claws of monotony once more. Maybe that’s why she jumped into the first opportunity she found to have some fun, and even do justice at the same time! Going against the wishes of the director was incredibly risky, going against the director’s wishes and helping the ones they ordered to be arrested coud very well end with her out of the TBD, and yet she was the happiest she had ever been.

That gave her adrenaline, the stakes had never been so high, who knew what could happen? For once, she didn’t know if she could do it, but still felt compelled to try.

“Head and limbs inside the timecraft, Brave.”

Croissant scolded the younger cookie beside her, who sat back down and began bouncing in excitement on his seat, a smile of wonder and amazement on his face as they travelled through the timeline. She had certainly gotten herself an interesting partner, but that was expected for someone in their first ever time travel, she hadn’t been all that different.

...

_“w... where... where am I?...”_

“Hey... is that... that’s me inside?”

Croissant lifted her goggles and shifted in her seat to look better at GingerBrave, who had finally, after several warnings from Croissant, remained in his seat and not sticking his head out to look at things.

“Yup! Keep an eye on yourself, you’re the only one who can see discrepancies in your timeline.”

Time changed things, no matter what it was, nothing ever remained the same forever. Croissant was used to that reality, and yet couldn’t help the surprised hum when the newborn cookie slowly sat up from the tray, dough burnt into a dark brown color, reaching out to another cookie on his side, burnt from the flames of the oven, succumbed to the fire. He looked so different..... Croissant knew of the oven, it was something all cookies needed to go through to come to life, but regardless if they were out of the oven or not, cookies would wake up for the first time a few moments after being baked into perfection. Take the tray out of the oven too late and...

Brave cheered at his younger self as he rushed over the tray and kicked the door of the oven open. Unfortunately, far too late for the other cookies on the tray, but GingerBrave persevered regardless, not even the Witch’s watchful eyes could spot the little cookie in time. His dough a dark tone and leaving a very faint trail of smoke where he went, he ran for the first time and towards a fallen cookie on the table.

“Oh!” _one of them is still alive?_

That poor cookie, dizzy from... something, maybe running? Croissant wasn’t paying attention to what was going on outside of the oven, Brave was the one on the watch out for anything out of place. The flow of time was continuing as normal and he hasn’t pointed out anything strange, so things must be going well.

Her brown eyes inspected the young cookie that had just been dragged away from the table by Brave, his dough somehow even darker than past Brave’s, they held onto the oversized blue hat that nearly slipped off their head, revealing something like peanut butter in the shape of hair, and a green candy cane much like Brave’s on their free hand. The Witch passed by then, but didn’t see their little silhouettes hidden behind the kitchen supplies.

“T...Thank you...”

“Don’t mention it, I wasn’t gonna leave you there.”

“The Witch is still here...”

“ _Pfft_ , I wanna see her _try_ to eat me. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

Croissant moved the time craft a bit closer to the boys, not having to worry about staying hidden surely came in handy. Still...even then, she couldn’t recall...that cookie wasn’t familiar to her.

“Who is that?”

The mechanic didn’t realize she had spoken aloud until she heard the quiet, almost inaudible response.

_“....Dozer?”_

Croissant looked down at the young boy, his eyes staring into the scene barely blinking at all. Wide from shock or something else, Croissant couldn’t tell. She was good at machines, time and space, but people was an entirely different subject.

“Oh...my name’s Peanut Butter Cookie, by the way... but everyone calls me Dozer, you can guess why...” the other cookie whispered as they walked into a better hiding spot behind the counter, far away from the oven and the jellies, that would be the first place the Witch would look.

“ _Pfft_... Yeah I think I can.” His younger self laughed, shaking his head with an amused smile. “Name’s Ginger Cookie, nice to meet ya!”

They shook hands, but Dozer tilted his head as he eyed his new companion curiously. “Just plain ginger?”

“Yeah...guess the witch wasn’t feeling very creative today...” he sighed, lowering his gaze down to his hands, more specifically his burnt dough like he was unsatisfied with it. It really was plain, even compared to most cookies, no clothes, no accessories, just a candy cane he found during his run.

“N-No! I mean, Ginger is a super nice ingredient-“

“It’s plain boring, just say it.”

Dozer fell silent and Croissant almost felt her jaw hit the floor? GingerBrave? The cookie with a pride bigger than his distaste for ovens? Being self depreciating?

“...Well, you...were really brave back then...” Dozer started, cleaning the mucus that ran down his nose from crying so much, “I don’t think anyone would have as much guts as you did...I mean, you _kicked_ the oven door open and saved me! I would get eaten for sure... but you came...”

GingerBrave finally looked up, a slight flush on his cheeks as he struggled to come up with any answer to the surprise compliment. Dozer smiled softly, something kind in his features.

“You’re the most courageous guy I know... you’re the brave cookie!”

Croissant glanced down and found him smiling, holding his candy cane close, she could swear he wasn’t even blinking. She took that as a confirmation that everything was going okay, she didn’t speak, it felt like something too personal.

“...I...I did... The Brave Ginger Cookie?”

“GingerBrave.”

His blue eyes had stars in it, that was the only thing that could explain the glow in then. “I...yeah...I like it.” He stood with a high-spirited energy that matched his personality much more. “I’m GingerBrave!”

The older cookie found herself smiling foundly at the two boys, her chest filled with a warmth as they shook hands once again as past Brave twirled around in joy at his new name and Dozer no longer had tears running down his cheeks.

_Oh, right. The mission._

Still, everything was going just fine and GingerBrave was still watching the two rest and brainstorm for some way to exit the kitchen. He was joyful and saddened, kept on smiling even if his brows were furrowed. Croissant perhaps wasn’t the best at deciphering other cookies, but she sure had a good memory, and yet that young boy with the blue hat that could barely keep himself awake was completely unfamiliar to her. He was no longer there, he wasn’t in their group. Almost on cue, faint footsteps echoed in the room and the shapeless silhouette cast by a glowing jelly slowly shifted to a long nose, hunched back and a pointy hat. In the corner of her vision, the brave cookie reached out towards them and Croissant quickly placed her hand over his, keeping him from going any further.

“...Ca... can we...” His smile had faded away like the shine in his eyes, he looked haunted, his voice was so quiet and raspy it was barely above a whisper. Maybe he couldn’t manage anything louder than that. “...skip that part...please?”

Finding the distortions in the timeline was their main priority, their freedom and her position were in danger and they couldn’t afford to lose anything... No, she couldn’t do that to him. Using her free hand, Croissant pulled her goggles down and input the new coordinates into the timecraft and they were gone in the blink of an eye.

Everything blurred and was enveloped by light, and then they were back at the kitchen not too far away from the boys’ previous hiding location. The Witch was hunched over, leaning against the wall on her side as she coughed and gasped for air like she had just choked on something. Limping away from the monster was a single cookie, he used his candy cane to keep him from falling over, his left ankle missing a chunk of dough while small pieces of his dough crumbled and fell on the floor. A pained wince on his features, Brave held a very familiar blue hat that no longer had an owner.

Croissant had joy, pride, all the way to boredom in her life, but as the young cookie grabbed her hand tightly and she quickly worked to bring them further ahead in time, she found life was also guilt and heartbreak. She knew what he wanted, and understood why, but they couldn’t do anything.

“...Where did you go from there?” Her voice was much quieter and, hopefully, soft enough that it wouldn’t startle the younger cookie too much.

“...I... I don’t know...” GingerBrave held his candy cane so tightly Croissant worried it would snap if he put any more force into it. He had an expression she saw in his past, but never in his modern self: defeat, disappointment. “I don’t remember...”

Just before the world took form once more, Croissant glanced downwards and winced at the scar that was still there on his left foot. The next thing they knew, they were met by GingerBright, Skater and the shy Strawberry, GingerBrave stood beside them looking much more like his present self, still leaning on his cane for extra support, but the burnt layer of dough had protected him from much damage from the stomach acid. Behind a bag of flour, they huddled together to avoid being spotted by the angered witch.

“Is everyone ready? It’s time to break out of here once and for all!”

And Croissant saw that life was also moving on, it goes on and doesn’t wait for anyone to grieve. Brave slowly let go of her hand and the adventure continued without either saying anything about that incident, the younger cookie surely wouldn’t want to be reminded of that, and Croissant had no idea what to say, but worry kept clawing at her mind. They opened the window that wasn’t supposed to be locked and time continued on.

For the first time in a long time, the young mechanic felt thrill of danger and high stakes, but also pain and disappointment, horror from finding the insanity the future held for her and facing her greatest challenge yet.

If her life was boring before, that certainly fixed it. Neither herself nor Timekeeper would be bored anytime soon with each other around. It was a bit of a risky throw, but after everything they went through, a little more risk added to the pile was nothing if it meant a chance for something good for all of them. Still, even after they agreed on a harmless deal for both of them and the children were finally free to go, there was something bugging her mind, a problem she hadn’t quite done something about.

“Uhm...Watcha thinking about?”

She yelped and jumped away from the voice that was a little too close to her liking, Timekeeper smiled innocently at her, giggling to themself and rested their chin on their hands, clearly enjoying her reaction a bit too much. Croissant just knew the time lord would come out of nowhere and try to startle her many times more in the future.

“Oh, I mean...uh, nothing! Don’t worry about it.”

She glanced back at her older self, finding that same cheeky grin on their face. Timekeeper knew that it wasn’t nothing and she was very aware of it. Unless Timekeeper was going out of their way not to see ahead of it and not use a drop of common sense, they also knew what plagued her mind.

“Hey, GingerBrave?” Said cookie turned to look at her while the other children ran around the place, stopping to inspect whatever they found particularly interesting, now that they weren’t in danger, not even her pleas for the troublemakers not to touch anything stopped them from going absolutely feral.

“Before you guys go take your train, wanna help me repair the timecraft? Timekeeper’s influence messed a bit with the controls.” She scratched the back of her head sheepishly and could swear Brave’s smile couldn’t get any bigger.

While it was particularly true, there wasn’t any visible danger done to the timecraft, all they needed to do was check with the controls and make sure everything was in place. But judging by his awestruck gaze as he watched her tinker with the delicate machinery, he couldn’t tell it was simply a check-up.

“What’s this for?”

“It helps maintain stability during time travel, otherwise we could accidentally end up somewhere else.”

“And that?”

“It pumps magic fuel to the engine- hey! Don’t get too close, little rascal.” She closed the hood after lightly pushing the smaller cookie away, who giggled and mumbled an apology.

“You’re done already?”

“Nope. Still have something to fix.” Croissant was a mechanic, a master around machinery, but it would be nearly a crime for her to never use her repairing skills for something else. Thankfully, Brave had remained on his spot on the wooden stool by the timecraft and had, hopefully, not touched or broken anything while she searched for the materials she’d need.

“...is that a first aid kit? Who got hurt?”

She couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head slowly, she carefully kneeled down beside him and opened the small white kit with a red cross and a bear gummy plastered on it. “You did.”

“wha-“

“Let me see your leg?”

Finally, he understood what she meant. Croissant slowly reached out for his left foot, he didn’t protest even as he winced slightly when she accidentally pressed on a still sore spot. It had healed with time and lots of jellies, but the crack on his dough was still there and didn’t seem like it would go away anytime soon.

Flour, sugar, ginger powder and a bandage to wrap it all up for the time being. The older cookie wiped her brow and smiled at her work, specially when Brave had a small smile as he carefully stood up while leaning on his cane. Another job well done.

“Thanks, Croissant.”

“Don’t mention it,” she smiled as he sat back down on the stool, “I couldn’t let you go without taking care of that. With how much you run, that could be a serious problem when you’re older.”

...

“Are you going to be okay?”

He flinched as if her words had physically hurt him, and he averted his eyes downwards as he fiddled with the goggles she had previously given him. Aside for the muffled cheers of the children while the guards tried to keep them in check and also Timekeeper making the chaos worse, it was silent. A few seconds passed and GingerBrave slowly brought his knees close to his chest and mumbled.

“...Yeah...sorry...”

“What are you apologizing for?”

“...I...I mean...I tried...”

“I know, it’s okay, anyone would try to do that.” Croissant placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting the boy to return her gaze. “Thank you for understanding.”

His eyes began to water, but he closed them and shook his head in an attempt to keep any tears from spilling. They couldn’t save him, altering the timeline even further would surely compromise everything they worked for.

“I... I’m okay...” Despite his best efforts to hide it, his voice still cracked and betrayed his attempts at appearing composed. “It’s just... I own him everything... even my name...”

“...I didn’t think I was brave back then.” The mechanic looked up from the medical kit, meeting his eyes that couldn’t hide his anguish as well as the little one hoped for.

“It came so naturally to me...I didn’t think anyone would react differently. Everyone has something, even GingerBright can do better than me and we have the same dough... I thought I was the most tasteless thing that ever existed... then Dozer pointed it out for me... I felt...like it wasn’t bad being me...” knees brought up to his chest and head hidden behind his knees, he seemed so small, smaller than he normally was. That was when Croissant saw GingerBrave for what he was: a child who was fighting against all odds to thrive. The other orphans shouldn’t be much different. They were just children.

“I said I’d protect him... I let him fall... he was right there, if I had been faster...”

Croissant placed both her hands on his shoulders, gently shaking his body so he would return to reality. On top of it all, life was also so very unfair.

“You jumped into the Witch’s guts to try to save him.” A smile, so soft and kind, she hoped it would also be soothing. “Dozer was observant, and if he were here, he’d be nothing but proud to have you as a friend.”

He shook his head, his mouth opening and closing with each failed attempt at forming any words to respond, deny, anything. Tears were already running down his cheeks before he could do anything about it, and only weak sobs made themselves heard. Even after everything that happened, that was the first time Brave had cried, not even as he was the only survivor of a massacre, he still persevered with unwavering determination. Croissant gently pulled him close and he sobbed on her neck, not as Brave the hero, or the first to escape the oven and survive the Witch, but as a child that was too tired of being strong. Brave was such an outgoing and eager cookie, ready to do whatever it took to help his friends, it was easy to overlook how small he was. Cookies didn’t grow a lot, but that was far from his final height, they were all so young.

As she held the whimpering child, she then realized that while life was, without a shadow of doubt, very unfair, being there for someone can do wonders to make it just a little better. He mumbled something in-between the sobs, an apology, and she knew it wasn’t directed at her. Slowly, as she gently rubbed circles on his back in a hopefully soothing manner, the sobs reduced to quiet sniffles, then slow breathing so peaceful you couldn’t tell he was awake.

... _Wait_...

“ _Pfft_... hey, Brave, wake up.” She gently broke their embrace, giggling at the younger cookie as he rubbed his eyes and mumbled something under his breath.

“Where’s the smile?”

Still half asleep, GingerBrave let out a mixture of a laugh and an embarrassed groan. Still, he slowly raised his head and showed the best smile he could, it wasn’t nearly as bright as the usual, but it was more than enough. Croissant ruffled his hair and they slowly made their way back to the chaos that was once the headquarters. Skater and Bright were being chased by a few guards that were begging for them to stop skating in the halls, while one lucky fella was just showing Strawberry around.

“Guess you’re having fun.”

“I haven’t laughed this much in ages! Look at them go!” Timekeeper made no effort whatsoever to hide her amusement at the guard’s struggles. "Children are quite interesting aren't they? It's quite hard to predict what they're going to do."

“Oh, she fixed that ugly thing on your leg!” Skater pointed to his new bandages as the poor guard carried both him and Bright on his arms, her arms crossed as she pouted and mumbled something about not letting them have fun.

“Its a _scar_ , Skater.” He twisted his foot slightly so the other boy could see his bandages better. In the corner of their vision, Zombie cookie limped his way back to his friends, heavens knew where he had been all that time.

“Director, _please_ , let them continue on their way, there’s mud and marks of heavens know what on the floor.”

“Oh, fine. It was fun while it lasted.” Timekeeper pretended to sigh in the most dramatic manner possible, still giggling to themself at their misfortunes. They clapped loudly to gather the attention of the little bundles of untamed distructive power. “Alright! Round up and go take your train, you little rascals!”

And like excitable little ducklings, the five wasted no time to follow Timekeeper and Croissant to the train station. With each step they took, home was just a little bit closer, a peaceful place where they could grow up without worrying for their lives. She watched them go with a smile, Skater giving Strawberry a ride on his favorite skate, while Zombie and Bright poked at Brave’s bandages, who was more than happy to show off his healing foot. Well at least he had been careful enough to use his cane as support.

“I’ll come to check on you five eventually, so keep out of trouble.”

“No promises!”

“We...are trying...”

“We ain’t very good at it.”

As they parted ways and promised to see each other again, Croissant promised herself to aim for a better future, not only for herself, but for others who needed it. She felt Timekeeper’s hand on her shoulder, and she knew it would be okay.

Life had its ups and downs, it was unpredictable and unfair, but if everyone made a little effort to help each other out, life could be good.


End file.
